Thursday, January 6, 2011

Now that I am back in Malaysia and that it's raining 4 days a week, mosquitoes are rampant.
They bite and they make me itch; they hum beside my ears and irritate me.
However, I still try my best not to kill them, particularly if they aren't black with white stripes.
The black with white stripes ones may be Aedes and can transmit Dengue virus--they are much more deadly.

Every morning, below my windows equipped with insect netting, a sprinkle of dead mosquitoes decorate my desk.
I wasn't the murderer.
These mosquitoes spent the whole night banging against the insect netting, trying in vain to find a way out.
From the picture, you can see that they were females.
Why do I say they were females?
--their antenna were thin. Male mosquitoes typically have plume-like (featherduster-like) antenna to facilitate their detection of female wingbeats. Yeap, males got to seek out the females in this insect, as is the case with most other animals. (not in my case however. j/k)
Because they were females, I believe that these ladies spent the night trying to squeeze through the netting for one reason. They wished to find a source of clear, still water to lay their eggs.
This is also meant that they had already acquired their blood meal from....me, most likely =).

Poor them.
Having survived the perils of sucking blood from humans,
heartless humans stingy of that teenie-weenie bit of blood,
'em mothers are beaten by a thin sheet of plastic
that doom them to early deaths as failures
whilst showing them the watery paradise that lies beyond.

Monday, January 3, 2011

I seldom head out to parties with my camera nowadays. Seems like everyone has camera, be it a phone-camera, a compact digital camera or a once rare but now very common DSLR. I'd rather not risk my camera if others are more than happy to snap away.

And truth be told, I really like insects more than people as my photo subjects anyway. No offense, personal preference.

Weather in Kuala Lumpur is a mix of sun and rain, daily. The sun may start with a temper for the better half of the day only to skitter away with the incoming onslaught of heavy downpour; sometimes it's the exact opposite or just overcast throughout.

When the clouds are amassed, and the sun peeks through spaces between the shifting clouds, it's an excellent time to dish out my camera and start hunting for insects in my garden.

Or my dog, if he's in the mood.

Today's pictures.

Can you tell if this was a fly or a bee?

One of the praying mantis that hatched in our bathroom and that we released into our garden last week. Mom and I check on them almost daily! So far we have been seeing 4 of the 17. Tried to look them up online--can't get the scientific name, only 'Malaysian mantis' haha.

Arh...common.

One of the crawlers on our brick wall.

Chinese call this 富贵花, 'Prosperity Flower'.

Our rambutan tree has been fruiting since I got back. I think our rambutans are pretty good, except that the flesh sticks to the seed. Lots of ants stay on this tree, a major issue for my parents.

Bowie was quite moody today. Here he was foraging for grass to munch on. Guess his digestion ain't doing so well--needed the extra fiber?

Bowie looking slightly alert and more lively when Mom called his name.